Forever is a Long Bargain
by Twintwins
Summary: It has been years since Sarah solved the Labyrinth, but that doesn't mean she was the last one. What happens when two sisters are forced to solve Jareth's maze? Love couldn't possibly come out of it, right?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Is it too late for them to give us rights to Labyrinth? It is? What a shame.

'Nothing, _nothing_ tra-la-la?' the blonde, 80's movie-star/actor laughed, whipping back his wild hair to throw the crystal down the tunnel, where it glittered in the center of the darkness before becoming a large, circular metal machine with knives all over it. Of course, this wasn't what Lucy was thinking about at all. Instead, she jumped up from her place on the couch and shouted, "You dumb bitch! _Follow_ him! Gosh, she's just _so_ stupid," pausing the Dvd. "I mean just _look_ at those pants! Look at them! They're just so damn- _ugh_!" With that she collapsed on to the couch and pressed play, silent once more.

From the other side of the couch her sister sighed, leaning back against the seat and giving her twin sister a sideways glance. "You know, I don't think the point of watching this movie was to watch some creeper not wearing underwear." She said coyly, unable to hold back a smirk. Her and sister, though identical in looks, were not quite so similar in personalities. Where Lucille was rebellious and aggressive, obsessing over hot guys in movies, Lillian was more of the polite, thoughtful type. Still, they loved each other deeply; even if that meant putting up with Lucy constantly pausing and playing and pausing the movie and yelling about how sexy David Bowie (and his criminally tight pants) were.

The door opened and their father came in, a scowl on his face. "I'm on the phone, girls, and I would appreciate it if you would be a little more considerate of the other people in the house" he said, closing the door – albeit a little loudly – behind him. Lily called after him, "Sorry, daddy!" while Lucy mocked him under her breath.

"I'm on the _phone_, girls! Be more _considerate_!" Lucy muttered, crossing her arms, "He never _used_ to care if we were loud. He used to let us run around the house in our pajamas, throwing pillows at each other and screaming at the top of our lungs. How was that _considerate_?" she asked, her eyes never leaving their flat screen, where Sarah was – as usual – asking stupid questions to the… _thing_ named Hoggle. Lucy sighed, glancing up at the ceiling where she could hear the distant muffled whispers of their step-mother cooing her little toddler. Apparently the little brat was their sibling, though Lucy chose not to believe that was true.

By the time the credits rolled on the movie, their dad had come in and announced that him and their step-mom were going on a date and that they'd be back late. Until they got back, however, it was up to Lucy and Lily to take care of Carver. Lily nodded and smiled, "Of course we'll take care of him, we were going to stay in tonight anyway" she said, while Lucy rolled her eyes and muttered something along the lines of 'like we have a choice, being your slaves and all'. Lily kicked the side of her sister's leg. Lucy sucked in a breath as her parents left, but waited until they were out the door to retaliate.

"What was that for?" Lucy exclaimed, kicking her sister back.

"You were being stupid!" Lily yelled. "And anyway, I'm tired of getting in trouble with Anne because of something _you_ did. She already dislikes us, so I don't see why you have to provoke her!" With a sigh, she started up the stairs, headed for her brother's room. "I'm going to check on Carver, so you make us something to eat" Lily said, already mid-way up the stairs.

"Oh, no no no no _no_! No!" Lucy exclaimed, taking the stairs two at a time to grab her sister's elbow and pull her backward. "Last time I cooked I nearly burned the house down. And I was boiling water. I'll check on the twerp and you make us something to eat- _Oh_! Make grilled cheese sandwiches!" she called behind her, leaving Carver's door open behind her. She walked over the carpet, lit only by the moonlight which streamed in through his bedroom window, and dodging his toys as she went. More than once she stubbed her tow on something sharp, hopping on one foot and screeching profanities.

This may have been a contributing factor to Carver's three-year-old self sitting up in bed and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Wiwian?" he mumbled tiredly, "Dat wou?" Lucy sighed, coming to the side of his bed and pushing his forehead down against the pillow.

"No, but I look just like her so it's not your fault you got confused" Lucy snapped, pulling the quilt up to his chin. She wondered vaguely if she could tuck him in so tightly that he wouldn't be able to move but decided that even if she could it would take too much effort to make it happen. "Now be a good boy, go back to sleep and don't bother your sisters for the rest of the night. Capiche?" Carver stared up at her with wide brown eyes, hidden by loose strands of his mother's red hair. "Good" Lucy said turning around, "And goodnight."

Carver yawned, "Wead me a stowy, sistar" he said, sitting up again so that the blanket fell into his lap. Lucy ground her teeth, ignoring her half-brother and continuing her way out of the room toward the delicious smell of Lily's cooking. "Wucy! Wead me a stowy!" he said loder, sounding as if he were pouting. Lucy goaned, turning around and leaning against the frame of the door.

"You want to hear a story? _Fine_!" she snapped, crossing her arms over her chest and blowing a lock of strawberry-blonde hair out of her eyes. "Once upon a time there was a bratty little boy named Carver, and his favorite thing to do was pis- _tick_ off his beautiful, _intelligent_ sister named Lucille. Lucille, though pretty, was treated as a slave was by both her step-mother, and by her father. Though her father was once a kind man, and though he might have stood up for the girl once, before the death of his first wife, he was no longer good-hearted enough to help her. You see, when his wife died, so did his heart, and so he forgot about the love of his children and married the cruel and torturous witch named Anne, whom gave birth to the bratty little boy named Carver. Now. Do you want to know what happened next?" Carver, oblivious to what his sister was implying, nodded quickly, anxious to hear what happened to the pretty girl and her rude brother. Lucy nodded, happy to have drawn him in to her story. "Hm… _well_! One day, a Goblin King named Jareth came to the girl and admitted that he had been watching her for a long time and had fallen deeply, madly, passionately, adoringly in love with her. And he begged her – _Begged_! On his _knees_! – for her to become his wife and rule over the Goblin Kingdom. She refused, though! For she could never leave her brother to be left to be raised by such terrible people! For no matter how cruel he was to her, she loved him still, and wanted to be cared for and to be loved in his lifetime, even if it meant she would suffer for it. Still, that night when she went to sleep, she wished that the Goblin King would take her brother away so that nothing would stand between them. And when she wished, Jareth heard her. He came in the dead of night and stole the child, and the next day came to the girl and told her so. He told her that he would raise the child and turn it into a Goblin so that they could be together and she would be his Queen. And, knowing that the child would be among other Goblins who would love him so, she agreed to become his Queen. And in the early hours of the morning, just before sunrise, he took her away to his castle in the center of a maze and together they lived, ruling over the Goblins of the Goblin Kingdom, now including the once-cruel brother, who grew kind with years after becoming a short, ugly little Goblin with warty little hands. The _end_! _Goodnight_."

Carver gasped, "What happed after dat, sistar?" he asked, "Dids she- dids she get happeh?" he asked and Lucy sighed.

"Yes, yes. Very happy. Lived a long life side-by-side with Jareth, made lots of babies, ruled the world, etcetera, etcetera." She said, "Now go. To. _Sleep_! The story's over! The end! No more to tell! So sleep. I'm sure you tired after asking all these stupid questions" she said, pushing back against the pillow and pulling the blanket back up to his chin.

"Sistar?" he said and she groaned.

"_What_? What could you _possibly_ have to say?" she demanded and he smiled at her, shutting his sleepy eyes.

"Tank wou for tewling the stowy" he whispered before drifting off.

Lucy sighed, walking to the door, "I shouldn't have had to tell you one at all" she muttered, "I should have just been able to have _my_ mom tell me a story and go to sleep, not tell some _other_ woman's kid one before tucking him in." She sighed shutting the door, "I wish the Goblin King was _real_, and I wish he really did _love_ me, and I wish he _would_ take you away" she said quietly before walking back down the stairs to the dining room where Lily was setting two paper plates on the table, each one with a grill cheese on top.

"What took you so long?" Lily asked, taking her first bite, eyes on her twin sister. Lucy shrugged, sitting down.

The twerp asked me to tell him a story, so I had to make one up" she said with a shrug, ignoring her sister's sudden stillness. She took a bite of the sandwich, savoring the flavor of melted cheese and butter.

"You _what_?" Lily asked, but Lucy didn't answer. She only shrugged, attempting to keep her attention focused on the sandwich. "_Lucille_! You _know_ he gets scared easily – and there's no way you can deny it, sister, because you've scared him yourself _more_ than a few times – and _I_ know that all the stories you could possibly come up with would be about monsters in the closet or the boogie man in the basement or a serial killer who pretends to be a golden retriever under the bed! _God_! You're so- so _impossible_!"

And with that, Lily marched herself up the stairs. Lucy listened to her sister and rolled her eyes, taking another bite of her food. _He didn't seem scared when I _told_ it to him_, she thought, _He even thanked me so she can go and_- she was interrupted by her sister yelling, "LUCILLE!" Lucy sighed, standing up and poking her head into the living room, glancing up to the top of her stairs where Lillian stood, hands on her hips. "Where the _hell_ is our little brother? Did you lock him in the bathroom or something? Tie him up in dad's office?"

"What are you going on about?" Lucy asked, genuinely confused. Today she had been too lazy to do anything particularly vindictive against Carver, so why was she being blamed? Coming down into the living room, Lily glared.

"This isn't a joke, Lucille. It's not funny. Where's out brother?" she demanded to know. Lucy shrugged.

"For once, I have no idea what you're talking about" she said, "I left Carver in his room. In fact, I'm pretty sure he was asleep by the time I left. If he's not there, then he was kidnapped by pirates, or he went to the bathroom" Lucy explained. Lillian shook her head, unconvinced.

"I checked the bathroom and he wasn't there. Our brother is _gone_, sister, and you were the _last_ person to have seen him. So what did you _do_?" she demanded.

"Wait. You checked the bathroom and you still accused me of locking him inside?" she shook her head, deciding that her sister was crazy but still playing along. "Ok, look. If he's not in his room then he's just somewhere else. It's not like someone came in through a locked window, you know how anal Anne is about locking the house up before she goes anyplace. So just take a chill pill and look around. Maybe he _did_ get scared and hid under his bed or something."

The two of them returned to Carver's bedroom, where, sure enough, he was not in. "_Huh_. Well that's weird" Lucy said, ducking down to look under the bed, but unable to shake off the thoughts that her brother was such a pain for going and causing problems like this. He wasn't under the bed, so she slid open the closet door, where she was met with nothing but a pyramid of blocks and clothes organized by color. _Anne is such a neat-freak, Jesus!_

Lily squealed by the window, backing up and tripping on to the bed. "Did you see that!" she squeaked, pointing at the window with wide eyes. Lucille rolled her eyes as she faced her sister, "See what, crazy?" Lucy asked, following her sister's outstretched finger. She was pointing at the window, but there was nothing outside but the grey-blue clouds and the silver circle of light that was the moon.

"There's nothing there" Lucy announced, "Did you take your _medicine_ this morning, sister?" she laughed.

"It isn't funny! I saw something outside the window! And you shouldn't be _laughing_ after _losing_ our brother!" she jumped up from the bed, getting in her twin's personal space. Lucy took a step back, raising her hands in an 'I surrender' gesture. "Lily, I have a personal bubble and you're dangerously close to popping it" she said, "Plus, I didn't lose our brother. He was kidnapped by pirates. Remember?"

Lily glared, but her eyes glanced back at the window with the same look of horror as a few seconds before, "There it was again. Outside the window. Lucy, there's something out there!" she said, clinging to her sister's shoulder, as if Lucy would be ok with being used as a meat shield between her sister and the imaginary thing Lily was seeing outside the window.

"Ok, crazy, listen up. There's nothing outside this window. Anything we could see outside this window would have to be able to fly- _see_?" At the last word, Lucy unlocked and pushed open the screen-less window, gesturing with her right hand, only to have a large white barn owl fly in over her shoulder. "HOLY SHIT!" she screeched, jumping back against the windowsill. Lily scream – at the top of her lungs, mind you – and sprinted out of the room, slamming the door behind her. "Some sister you are!" Lucy called after her, once the initial shock had settled, "Besides, it's just an owl- OhmyGod" because suddenly, it wasn't _just_ an owl. It was a man, looking shocking similar to someone from the film she'd watched with her sister just earlier.

"LILLIAN!" Lucy yelled, "Get in here. Right. _Now_!" The door cracked open and Lily poked her head in.

"Who's that?" she asked quietly and the man laughed, throwing back his head of blonde hair and tossing his raven-feather cape behind him.

"You can call me Jareth, for that is who I am!" he announced, and Lucy stared. _He looks like David Bowie!_ She realized, staring at him like a deer in headlights. "You're David Bowie" she said, "You look _exactly_ like David Bowie! _Holy_ shi- can I get your autograph?" Lily entered the room fully, standing in the door and staring at the David Bowie look-alike with obvious skepticism.

"Why do I feel like we've just walked ourselves into a sequel to Labyrinth?" she asked slowly.

"I am Jareth, the Goblin King, and am here to tell your sister that her wish has been granted. I have come here to take the child she asked me to, and I have. Now, you girls can go back to your sandwiches and movies and can-"

"YOU _WHAT_!" Lily screamed. "Lucille Clarabella Young, you had better have a _damn_ good explanation for all of this or so help me God, I will kill you. I will shove you out that window and you will never see the light of day again because I will bury you alive in our backyard and I will-"

"If you'd allow me to, I can explain-" Jareth tried to say, but was interrupted by Lillian's rant.

"Shut _up_, Goblin King" Lily said, "I am really not in the mood. Now, Lucy, you _listen_ and you listen _good_. You are going to tell me _exactly_ what you told Carver, _exactly_ what you did to him and the _exact_ words you used in order to _wish him away with a fucking Fairy King_!"

Lucy glanced from her sister, to Jareth, and back to her sister. "Well… I told him a story about a girl being a slave and her brother being evil – kind of like Sarah did in the movie? – and I told him that the brother was taken away so that the Goblin King and the girl could get together. And then I tucked him in. And then he _thanked_ me. Then he fell asleep, and when I closed the door ." She pursed her lips, hoping that by saying it so quickly her sister wouldn't understand what she said.

"You _what_?" Lily demanded, "Repeat yourself. _Slower_."

"Maybe I should just come bac-" Jareth tried to speak again, finding himself interrupted for a second time by Lily.

"Don't you _dare_, Goblin King. You're staying _right_ there until this is settled!" Lily snapped, not even looking at him.

"Wow, Lil, I'm so proud of you!" Lucy gushed, "You're acting all adult-like and badass and- _gosh_, it's almost like you grew a _backbone_!" When her sister didn't laugh, she sighed, "I wished Carver would be taken by Goblins. But if it's any consolation, I didn't think it would really _happen_!" _Not that I didn't want it to, but that's not the point_.

Lily sighed, "Ok, Goblin King. Now you can talk, but keep in mind that if you don't give my brother back, I'll bury _you_ alive, instead" she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Jareth cleared his throat, "If you want him back, you'll have to solve my Labyrinth" he said, gesturing at the window from which he came. "It's the rules, you see. You have 13 hours to solve the Labyrinth and if you cannot, then I keep the boy as a prize. If you succeed, you get one wish. If it so happens that your wish is to have your brother back, I will return Carver, safe, sound and _human_."

"Fine. Put us in the Labyrinth, we'll win our brother back" Lily stated, without even thinking it over.

"_We_ will?" Lucy asked, "I was thinking maybe _you_ would save him – be the heroine of this fairy tale, you know? – and I would, I don't know, finish my sandwich, watch A Hard Day's Night… you know, the_ usual_." She said, but at the meeting of her sister's death glare, she knew that there was no getting out of it.

"Oh, _fine_, but don't say I didn't warn you!" she snapped, hand on her hip.

And with that they were there, outside the Labyrinth with the King of the Goblins and… a floating clock. Lucy continued to stare at Jareth. "Where do you buy those _pants_? They're just so tight and so-" she sighed wistfully and twisted a lock of strawberry blonde hair around her finger.

"Thirteen hours?" Lily asked and Jareth smirked.

"Thirteen hours" he confirmed, spinning his fingers counter-clockwise in front of the clock. Lily and Lucille watched as the hands of the clock spun to line up on the thirteen, "Starting now."

"Piece of cake" Lily stated, starting down the hill they stood on for the Labyrinth, and with one last suggestive glance at Jareth, Lucy followed in suit, wondering _what_, exactly, she and her sister had gotten themselves into.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Still don't own it. Still want to.

Lily gaped at the Labyrinth, which she could see for miles and miles before it ever reached the castle, looking like a blot on the horizon. The determination and hope drained out of her as she walked closer, and yet she knew that there was nothing she could do but press on. Try. If she gave up now, then who was to say she wouldn't make it in time to wish for Carver back? Lucy, by her side, whistled. "That is one long-ass Labyrinth" she said, "Bet ya five bucks that we don't make it half-way through." She laughed, though her sister didn't seem to think it was all that funny. "Gosh, sister, way to have a sense of humor" Lucille said with an eyeroll, "And anyway, wouldn't you rather play poker for Carver? You can't say you're looking forward to this… thing. What exactly is this anyway? A game?"

"Lucy, can you do me a favor and shut up right now? I'm not exactly willing to forgive you for getting our brother kidnapped and I might not kill you if you stay quiet" Lillian said, stomping right up to the wall and putting her hands against it. By this point she knew that there was a movie about the Labyrinth back in her world, and she knew that she'd seen it a thousand times, even once a few hours before, but she didn't remember the details. What happened in the film was becoming more and more fuzzy the closer to the Labyrinth she got, and as she touched the dark, dirty-looking stone, all remaining memory of the details faded.

Lucile yelped, waving her arms around madly and Lily turned to face her. "What are you- are those faeries?" she asked in bewilderment, eyes widening in surprise. And sure enough, several dozen little glittery people about the size of her thumb all fluttered their wings and hovered around Lucille, playing with her hair and pulling at her clothes. One particularly annoying little guy was tying her hair into a knot, but it seemed Lucille was too busy smacking away the ones that got too close to her face.

When Lillian spoke up, a handful of them seemed to realize she was there and zip over, poking her all about. Lily though, unlike her sister, seemed unbothered by the little tricksters, and when they realized they weren't getting a reaction, they returned to harassing Lucy, still jumping about like a frog on acid. Finally, she managed to land a hit on one, throwing him to the ground with an uncomfortably loud _crunch_ sound. "Lucy! What did you do?" Lily exclaimed, "It wasn't hurting you, why did you _hit_ it?" she demanded to know, dropping to her knees before the fallen fae. He seemed fine, a little dirty from hitting the ground and his right wing was folded in half, but otherwise, he seemed ok.

The little red-headed thing sat up, rubbing his eyes before looking up at Lily. She scooped him into her cupped hands, holding him before her face, but he glared at her and bit her thumb, then attempted to fly away, only to spiral to the ground again. Lily sighed, "You can't fly with a broken wing" she told him, "You'll have to stick to using your feet and _not_ biting the hand that feeds."

The faery looked dubious, "But you didn't feed me!" he squeaked, causing Lily to giggle. He sounded as small as he looked! He spoke with a squeaky, child-like voice, which was audible enough to hear, but still quieter than even Lucille's 'inside voice'. Then again, it wasn't harder to be, seeing that Lillian sometimes wondered if her sister even knew what an inside voice was. Or even if she knew the definition of QUIET.

"You're _talking_ to that little thing? Kill it already so we can leave!" Lucy exclaimed and Lily sighed, lifting the faery back into her hands and standing up. The force of her changing positions forced the faery to a sitting position and he pouted, crossing his arms. "Lucy, honestly, he's not a _thing_, he's a _faery_, and I'm quite sure he has feelings" she said to her sister, turning her attention back to the fae. "Don't mind my sister, she's a little on the aggressive side but you get used to her after a while. My name's Lillian, but you can call me Lily. What's your name?" she asked. The faery looked at her with curiosity and suspicion, unsure about whether or not she was a danger to him. Deciding that she was at least safer than her sister, he nodded in approval.

"Puck" he answered, "It is my name and what you can call me." He stood up on Lily's palm, giving a silly little bow that bent his knees and spun his arm behind him in a melodramatic gesture meant to appear suave. Lily giggled, smiling down at him. "What's so funny?" he demanded, putting his hands on his hips, "I didn't make a joke, did I? No! I don't think I did!" he squeaked.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm delighted to meet you, Puck. Is there anything I can do about your wing?" Lillian asked, receiving a groan from her sister behind her, who was obviously against helping anything that had attempted to tangle her hair.

The little faery – seemingly oblivious to Lucy – shook his head.

"No, no. There's nothing you can do" he said, "It'll heal in a little while. In an hour maybe. I can't get home without my wings, though. Could you, perhaps, take me along with you until it heals? I can reward you grandly! I can give you faery magic! Or use my faery magic to help you with something you need done. I could, perhaps, turn wine to gold. Or straw! I can turn straw to gold too. I could even shield you from faery trickery from forever on! And forever is a long time, for a human, you know. So very long…" his voice trailed off thoughtfully before he looked up at her again, "So? What say you?"

Lily giggled again, unable to hold back her laughter. He was such a funny little thing, but she liked him. Lucy groaned. "You're still _talking_ to the thing? Let's _go_ already!" she exclaimed, coming to her sister's side, glaring at the faery folk, "Gosh, you're _small_. No wonder you broke so easy."

Lily rolled her eyes at her sister, turning her back to Lucy. The movement, yet again, threw the faery back on his bottom and he looked up at her. "Can you guide us to the center of the Labyrinth?" Lily asked, hoping that finding someone to lead them there would be this easy. It wasn't, though. Life was never fair.

The faery shook his head, "I could, but I can't. The King, you see – The Goblin King – he's my King too. King of the faeries, he is! And he wouldn't be so happy if I were to lead you there. However, the offer stands for me to give you faery magic. You would be a faery too, though you wouldn't get wings and you'd still be too big to fit into the faery home… not that you could get there without wings." He pouted, thinking about this, "Maybe faery magic wouldn't be fun, then, though" he said at last. "Perhaps you'd prefer gold?" he asked hopefully.

Lily shook her head, "I'll let you know. For now, though, know that I'll carry you with me until your wing gets better. Is it ok if I put you in my pocket?" she asked, gesturing to the breast pocket of her royal blue jacket. He nodded quickly and she set him inside. Puck, twisted around a few times, like a cat getting comfy on a pillow, before crossing his arms over the edge of the pocket and leaning his head on his arms, choosing to stand inside. "Comfy?" Lillian asked and he nodded.

"_Finally_!" Lucy exclaimed, "Now let's _go_ already!"

"Go where, Luce? We have _no_ idea how to get into the Labyrinth!" Lillian replied. Lucy rolled her eyes, as if this was just a technicality, while leaning against the wall of the maze, itching her nose. Without another words, the wall behind her gave out, collapsing into a pile of rubble behind her before she fell back into the broken bricks and rocks. There was a cloud of dust which rose from pile of rocks and Lucy coughed, waving the cloud away from her face. "Lucy!" Lillian exclaimed, running to her sister's side and falling to her knees by her side. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?" she asked, her eyes searching for blood.

Lucy coughed a bit more before she answered her sister. "I just fell, spaz. Chill out, will you?" she sat up straight, looking around at her surroundings when the dust had cleared. "Well I guess we don't have to worry about getting inside of the Labyrinth, right?" she said optimistically, getting to her feet and offering her sister a hand to help her out. "Come on, Lillian, wipe your eyes, you look like you're cryin- Are you crying? You are, aren't you? You're so dumb!"

Lily sniffled, taking her sister's hand and getting to her feet. "Dumb? I'm _dumb_? I thought you were _hurt_! What was I supposed to do, stand around?" she asked, "You're such a- a-"

"Bitch?" Lucy supplied the word with a grin, "I know." Without another word, and with a new-found cheerfulness to her step, she started into the middle of the Labyrinth's paved road. "Well, looks like we've only got two directions – right or left. So which way do you think we should go?" she asked. Lillian sighed, following her sister and looking both ways. With a shrug she started walking left, her sister following close behind.

"Left it is" her sister announced, stepping over a branch.

They walked in silence, except for the humming of Puck in Lily's pocket. The longer they walked, however, the more they seemed to get nowhere. There were no turns in the Labyrinth; no rights or lefts or diagonals, no forks in the path, no dead ends. After maybe fifteen minutes of this one-directional walk, Lucy stopped. "We're not _going_ anywhere!" she exclaimed, "We'll just keep walking and walking and _walking_ until our thirteen hours are up and I'll never see Jareth again and _you'll_ never save the little brat!" Lucy exclaimed.

Lily glared at her sister, "You got a better idea?"

Lucille thought for a moment, glancing up at the wall. "Maybe" she said finally. "We can try to climb over, right? I mean, what can go wrong?" Lily wondered if it was possible for anything to succeed when those words were said. Still, she helped her sister by giving her a lift and allowing Lucy to pull herself up before taking a step back. "So?" Lily asked, "Can you walk along the edge?"

Lucy shrugged, taking a step forward, only to nearly trip her back toward her sister. She gained her balance before she fell, holding her arms out like she was on some sort of tightrope act. "You ok?" Lily asked and Lucy sent her a look that said 'shut the fuck up, I'm concentrating'. With her sister silenced, she faced forward again, taking a careful step. She thought she'd be fine, but the moment she set her foot down the brick shook loose and tossed her off of the wall, back toward her sister.

Lily managed to grab her sister's arm, helping her balance out and land on her feet. Lucy stared at the wall with dismay. "I think that was a bad idea" she said finally. "I just wish I remembered how to get-"

"You know" Puck said, "We've passed quite a few turns already. I don't know why you didn't see them, but they're pretty obvious to me. I guess they could do to be more obvious, though, yes?" The twins blinked, looking down at Puck, still tucked into Lily's pocket, looking comfy.

"Um… Puck? Could you point out one of those turns for us? The next time you see one…?" Lily asked slowly, to which Lucy scoffed.

"Let me break his other wing! Then maybe he'll tell us when we miss a fucking turn-" Lily nudged Lucy with her elbow, giving her a look before turning back to Puck with an apologetic smile. "Sorry about her. You were saying?" Lillian asked. Puck looked from one sister to the next, heaving a sigh before re-crossing his eyes and laying his head back on them.

"There's one right there" he said, nodding in the direction, "Can't ya see?" he added, "I can see. It's right there. Just take two steps forward and one to the right and – BOOM – you'll be there" he nodded, as if this were the wisest thing he had ever said in his life (Lucy thought that maybe it _was_ the wisest thing he'd ever said, though she didn't say so aloud), and Lillian did what he said. Two steps forward, one to the right, and just as he said, she was in another walkway.

"Oh, thank you, Puck!" she exclaimed, "That was very helpful. Come on Lucy, let's get going!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know" she said glumly, arms still crossed over her chest as she followed behind.


End file.
